NGO donates wheelchairs to 250 people with polio in Gombe
An NGO, Beautiful Gate Handicapped Peoples Centre, Jos, has donated wheelchairs to 250 victims of polio in Kaltungo, Balanga, Shongom and Yalmatu Local Government Areas of Gombe State.
Mr Ayuba Gufwan, the Chief Executive Officer of the centre presented the wheelchairs to the beneficiaries on Friday in Kaltungo.
Gufwan, who is a polio survivor, explained that the gesture was in conjunction with the Community and Rural Life Enhancement Initiative (CREI), a Jos-based organisation.
He added that gesture was to alleviate the sufferings of the victims, adding that it would enable them move around and attain their full potentials.
”Our belief in Beautiful Gate Handicapped Peoples Centre is that disability is not a death sentence but an obstacle waiting to be overcome.
”This is why we try everything within our powers to support victims of polio in whatever way we can.
”I was five-year-old when I came down with polio; that has affected my education and other potentials until help of this nature came my way.
”So, today, we are donating wheelchairs to these 250 victims of polio to enable them overcome their challenges with ease,” he said.
Gufwan noted that the wheelchairs would enable the victims to move around in search of greener pasture and become useful to themselves, families and the society as a whole.
”I want to advise the beneficiaries to use these wheelchairs to go to school, learn handiwork or open up businesses that will be beneficial to themselves and the society.
”I am what I am today because I got help from someone, and so these beneficiaries can use this support to make ends meet,” he said.
Earlier, Evang. Bitrus Dasar, the Founder and CEO of CREI, said that the beneficiaries were drawn from the 12 communities in the southern part of Gombe where his organisation is working in the last 12 years.
He said that the gesture was an act of charity aimed at supporting the victims of polio to have a better life.
Speaking at the event, Alhaji Salleh Mohammed, Paramount Ruler of Kaltungo, thanked Gufwan for the gesture, adding that it would go a long way to ameliorate the plight of the polio victims in his domain.
He, however, warned the beneficiaries against using the wheelchairs to engage on street begging or criminal activities.
